A caller on CSPAN (before Biden’s speech) actually questioned West Point’s silence on Pompeo - as in why aren’t they revoking his diploma, etc. That’s an awfully high visibility grad to be having his clips rerun on RT… WWRT (What Would Reagan Think)?!…
I haven’t seen much about this new CBS/YouGuv poll that the WaPo’s Jeniffer Rubin wrote about on Wednesday:
“CBS News reports on a poll it conducted with YouGov: “Large majorities — more than eight in 10 — don’t think books should be banned from schools for discussing race and criticizing U.S. history, for depicting slavery in the past or more broadly for political ideas they disagree with.” Whites, Blacks and parents all agree. So do more than 80 percent of Republicans. Moreover, CBS reports, “Four in 10 believe teaching about race in America makes people more racially tolerant today, too, well outpacing the few who think it does the opposite.”
Those facts don’t fit the media’s preferred framing of Republicans all being in sync with Trump, Pompeo and Tucker. The odious Tuckums even went on Russia’s RT television to decry the opposition of the US and Europe — and all civilized countries — to Putin’s horrific invasion. He also had an interview with Erik Prince in which Prince showed disdain for the American military, claiming they just might not be as capable as they think they are. Wish we could deport them to Russia.
Do these journalists understand the consequences if Putin style authoritarianism comes to America? Newsflash: We're teetering on it folks. We might just be looking at 10 more months of democracy if the Republicans take over congress. Because the media, even after Russia has invaded Ukraine, continue to hint at, if not downright, blame Biden for higher gas prices. That doesn't result in folks becoming more educated on why there is inflation. It forces the masses who would rather watch the Game Show Network instead of the news to assume Biden is at fault and why they will need to vote Republican in the midterms. Well, I hope our journalists are watching how brave Russian citizens spontaneously took to the streets to protest their leader's maniacal move this week. Most were arrested. Some will pay heavy fines, some will go to jail, and Russian journalists who report on this atrocity on human rights might also be imprisoned and even killed. Putin has done it before, he most certainly will do it again. So to the MSM, keep doing what you're doing and down the dark road, if that happens, don't look to me when they haul your ass away for doing your job. But what am I saying, American MSM journalists don't do their job anyway, haven't for years. They will simply kiss the ass of Trump or some worse American authoritarian leader.
All of the current America First people are no more than a Fifth Column for Putin. That's the point being lost on the public by the press's soft-pedaling this as mere "divisions" within the Republican Party.
I'm enraged at the media's response to Trump and the GOP. With the exception of the coverage over Trump's remarks when he said he trusted Putin over our own intelligence agencies, journalists have and continue to mostly yawn and shrug. "Oh it's just boys being boys, and what's wrong with that anyway?" is their attitude.
Could you imagine the wall-to-wall coverage if a group of Dem Senators and Reps spent July 4 in Russia visiting Putin? And it's been what a week, maybe two, since news of Trump taking classified docs to Florida broke—which was treated mostly as a nothing burger even then—and it's already been forgotten.
This is a freaking war on European soil waged by a dictator who has invaded a sovereign nation under the false pretense of "Nazis" SUPPORTED by many in the GOP and their propaganda arm, and the mainstream media says "but what did Biden do wrong that he couldn't prevent this?"—coming on the heels of their questioning whether the admin was hyping the threat and manipulating intelligence. I despair.
I have heard some of the more influential never-Trumpers (especially The Bulkwark folks) say that the big problem is that the Democratic Party simply refuses to go on offense and to make the Republican Party’s dangerous thuggery and authoritarianism a major focus and differentiator, especially in campaigns all across the country.
Perhaps the NYTs, et al, are simply not willing to call out the authoritarian turn unless the Democrats make a campaign issue out of it. Then, at least, the NYTs might be forced to use the words “authoritarian” and “autocratic” in a sentence of their reporting here and there . . .
The GOP and the entirety of the right is filled with people who were the sidekicks of the high school bully. The ones who stood behind his shoulder ready to say, "That's a good one, Butch," whenever he insulted someone. The ones who would use a fist or a well-placed kick only after their leader knocked someone down. Its a sniveling worship of the might-is-right philosophy of the fascist that you always see in the pig farmers and tailors who are only as tough as the fancy uniform they wear gives them permission to be.
The media doesn't even pause to consider how bizarre it is for someone to quote themselves - "So I said to myself..." - as Trump routinely does. If anyone else did that the story would be how deeply delusion one has to be to think that what they say to themselves bolsters what they say to others. {Not to mention the oddness of talking to yourself in the first place.}
The failure of Ukraine vis a vis its people and that of the west vis a vis Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR is breath taking.
A footnote to Eric’s excellent post is that one of the last opportunities to help Ukraine was in 2019 when Trump chose to fuck with Zelensky instead of doing what he is completely incapable of doing: acting responsibly.
And a punchline to todays post. WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin wants responsibility from the same mainstream media who’ve gone above and beyond in supporting the GOP:
As if Biden wasn’t fully aware of and informed on Putin’s plan. He told us almost daily not to underestimate Putin. He told us almost daily to expect this invasion, and I admit I did not believe Putin would actually go through with it, but not for lack of Biden’s candor and warnings. This rightwing messaging campaign to paint Biden as weak while they embolden Putin and spew Russian talking points is nothing short of TREASON. And it is beyond time for mainstream media to get with the program and hold them accountable for it.
If you’d like, it would be beyond cool if you read my latest newsletter post, Eric:
Weekly Roundup:
Russia starts WWIII, Biden is exactly the POTUS we need in this moment, Republicans commit treason… Again
So the problem remains, that Americans get screwed by a press more willing to protect itself from Republican criticism than to provide real coverage of this travesty. I don't trust a damn thing I read on Ukraine, just as I didn't believe what I read about the US invasion of Iraq. It is not the media's job to either promote or protect anyone's agenda, especially Donald Trump's and the GOP's. We could be looking at the beginnings of WW3 here, and the deaths of tens of thousands of people, yet it's just not sinking in.
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press has already made their choice and it's whatever the Republican Party demands.
The CCCP is totally corrupted and it just cannot be saved.
When the Republicans get Congress back which they will the press will continue to be nothing more than TASS/Izvestia/Pravda was in the USSR. Nothing will stop them from reciting the latest GOP talking points.
Thus again why I say that as great a threat as the republican party is, the political media are an even greater threat. The solution? If I were independently wealthy, I would dedicate my life to organizing boycotts. Money would talk.
A caller on CSPAN (before Biden’s speech) actually questioned West Point’s silence on Pompeo - as in why aren’t they revoking his diploma, etc. That’s an awfully high visibility grad to be having his clips rerun on RT… WWRT (What Would Reagan Think)?!…
I haven’t seen much about this new CBS/YouGuv poll that the WaPo’s Jeniffer Rubin wrote about on Wednesday:
“CBS News reports on a poll it conducted with YouGov: “Large majorities — more than eight in 10 — don’t think books should be banned from schools for discussing race and criticizing U.S. history, for depicting slavery in the past or more broadly for political ideas they disagree with.” Whites, Blacks and parents all agree. So do more than 80 percent of Republicans. Moreover, CBS reports, “Four in 10 believe teaching about race in America makes people more racially tolerant today, too, well outpacing the few who think it does the opposite.”
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/23/republican-hysterics-wokeness-critical-race-theory-book-banning-/
Those facts don’t fit the media’s preferred framing of Republicans all being in sync with Trump, Pompeo and Tucker. The odious Tuckums even went on Russia’s RT television to decry the opposition of the US and Europe — and all civilized countries — to Putin’s horrific invasion. He also had an interview with Erik Prince in which Prince showed disdain for the American military, claiming they just might not be as capable as they think they are. Wish we could deport them to Russia.
Do these journalists understand the consequences if Putin style authoritarianism comes to America? Newsflash: We're teetering on it folks. We might just be looking at 10 more months of democracy if the Republicans take over congress. Because the media, even after Russia has invaded Ukraine, continue to hint at, if not downright, blame Biden for higher gas prices. That doesn't result in folks becoming more educated on why there is inflation. It forces the masses who would rather watch the Game Show Network instead of the news to assume Biden is at fault and why they will need to vote Republican in the midterms. Well, I hope our journalists are watching how brave Russian citizens spontaneously took to the streets to protest their leader's maniacal move this week. Most were arrested. Some will pay heavy fines, some will go to jail, and Russian journalists who report on this atrocity on human rights might also be imprisoned and even killed. Putin has done it before, he most certainly will do it again. So to the MSM, keep doing what you're doing and down the dark road, if that happens, don't look to me when they haul your ass away for doing your job. But what am I saying, American MSM journalists don't do their job anyway, haven't for years. They will simply kiss the ass of Trump or some worse American authoritarian leader.
"The Republican party has blood on their hands."
All of the current America First people are no more than a Fifth Column for Putin. That's the point being lost on the public by the press's soft-pedaling this as mere "divisions" within the Republican Party.
I'm enraged at the media's response to Trump and the GOP. With the exception of the coverage over Trump's remarks when he said he trusted Putin over our own intelligence agencies, journalists have and continue to mostly yawn and shrug. "Oh it's just boys being boys, and what's wrong with that anyway?" is their attitude.
Could you imagine the wall-to-wall coverage if a group of Dem Senators and Reps spent July 4 in Russia visiting Putin? And it's been what a week, maybe two, since news of Trump taking classified docs to Florida broke—which was treated mostly as a nothing burger even then—and it's already been forgotten.
This is a freaking war on European soil waged by a dictator who has invaded a sovereign nation under the false pretense of "Nazis" SUPPORTED by many in the GOP and their propaganda arm, and the mainstream media says "but what did Biden do wrong that he couldn't prevent this?"—coming on the heels of their questioning whether the admin was hyping the threat and manipulating intelligence. I despair.
I have heard some of the more influential never-Trumpers (especially The Bulkwark folks) say that the big problem is that the Democratic Party simply refuses to go on offense and to make the Republican Party’s dangerous thuggery and authoritarianism a major focus and differentiator, especially in campaigns all across the country.
Perhaps the NYTs, et al, are simply not willing to call out the authoritarian turn unless the Democrats make a campaign issue out of it. Then, at least, the NYTs might be forced to use the words “authoritarian” and “autocratic” in a sentence of their reporting here and there . . .
I'm just waiting for Putin to address CPAC and see the crowd give him a standing ovation filled with plenty of asskissing.
The GOP and the entirety of the right is filled with people who were the sidekicks of the high school bully. The ones who stood behind his shoulder ready to say, "That's a good one, Butch," whenever he insulted someone. The ones who would use a fist or a well-placed kick only after their leader knocked someone down. Its a sniveling worship of the might-is-right philosophy of the fascist that you always see in the pig farmers and tailors who are only as tough as the fancy uniform they wear gives them permission to be.
The media doesn't even pause to consider how bizarre it is for someone to quote themselves - "So I said to myself..." - as Trump routinely does. If anyone else did that the story would be how deeply delusion one has to be to think that what they say to themselves bolsters what they say to others. {Not to mention the oddness of talking to yourself in the first place.}
The failure of Ukraine vis a vis its people and that of the west vis a vis Ukraine since the collapse of the USSR is breath taking.
A footnote to Eric’s excellent post is that one of the last opportunities to help Ukraine was in 2019 when Trump chose to fuck with Zelensky instead of doing what he is completely incapable of doing: acting responsibly.
And a punchline to todays post. WaPo’s Jennifer Rubin wants responsibility from the same mainstream media who’ve gone above and beyond in supporting the GOP:
https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2022/02/24/media-republicans-boosting-republican/
Politico published this late yesterday:
Putin was playing Biden all along
https://www.politico.com/news/2022/02/24/putin-was-playing-biden-all-along-00011555
As if Biden wasn’t fully aware of and informed on Putin’s plan. He told us almost daily not to underestimate Putin. He told us almost daily to expect this invasion, and I admit I did not believe Putin would actually go through with it, but not for lack of Biden’s candor and warnings. This rightwing messaging campaign to paint Biden as weak while they embolden Putin and spew Russian talking points is nothing short of TREASON. And it is beyond time for mainstream media to get with the program and hold them accountable for it.
If you’d like, it would be beyond cool if you read my latest newsletter post, Eric:
Weekly Roundup:
Russia starts WWIII, Biden is exactly the POTUS we need in this moment, Republicans commit treason… Again
https://panem.substack.com/p/weekly-roundup-bb3?r=17kwba&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web
So the problem remains, that Americans get screwed by a press more willing to protect itself from Republican criticism than to provide real coverage of this travesty. I don't trust a damn thing I read on Ukraine, just as I didn't believe what I read about the US invasion of Iraq. It is not the media's job to either promote or protect anyone's agenda, especially Donald Trump's and the GOP's. We could be looking at the beginnings of WW3 here, and the deaths of tens of thousands of people, yet it's just not sinking in.
The Corporate Controlled Conservative Press has already made their choice and it's whatever the Republican Party demands.
The CCCP is totally corrupted and it just cannot be saved.
When the Republicans get Congress back which they will the press will continue to be nothing more than TASS/Izvestia/Pravda was in the USSR. Nothing will stop them from reciting the latest GOP talking points.
Thus again why I say that as great a threat as the republican party is, the political media are an even greater threat. The solution? If I were independently wealthy, I would dedicate my life to organizing boycotts. Money would talk.
This is a current subhead on the front page of today's Wapo:
Poll: Americans divided over whether first Black female justice would be good for the U.S.
WE ARE BROKEN